You are your worst critic. Low Self-esteem is one of the biggest issues I have observed around the world, especially in high school. We need to start having self-confidence in ourselves. Some of us say we could care less what others say and sometimes for most that is true, but for others it is just a cover up. Everyone has true beauty no matter who they are or what they look like. We each have something special and different. Opinions make us who we are as a person.

A lot of the people who tear others down, most likely have self-confidence issues themselves. Being self-conscious makes life so miserable. You feel like you need to hide all the time, keep to yourself, never speak your mind, and blend in. Being invisible makes life so incredibly miserable, so you may as well stand out and be who you truly are as a person.

No matter what your opinion is, what you like, what you stand up for, what your attire is, how you speak, or your likes/dislikes, there is always that one person who is going to disagree with you. Disagreeing with someone is not a bad thing; it just means we are different from each other. If we were all the same, we would be such a boring planet!

I have dealt with very low self-esteem and it is awful. I felt so alone, different, weird, ugly, annoying, and unwanted. When one person calls you ugly, says you have no friends, you are weird, too happy, unloved, or so annoying, why should that matter? I decided that I was done letting people determine my life and tell me how I “should” act. The truth is, there is no such thing as perfect or “normal”. We might define “normal” as being pretty, popular, rich, happy, and having a good family, but is perfection really what normal is? No one can answer this question because there is no definition for normal.

Now the real question is, how do you keep others from hurting you and making you feel awful? The answer is simple, don’t. I know that answer is maybe not what anyone is looking for, but you are the one who is letting people hurt you. Sometimes you are the only one hurting yourself. I realized when I stopped putting myself down, sometimes at that moment people weren’t even saying anything. Sometimes we feel like we need to beat people to the punch and call ourselves ugly, annoying, or any other name you can come up with before someone else. I do agree that there are people out there that do put each other down and it hurts. The truth is, before you go and make a comment to someone, put yourself in their shoes… how would you feel if someone said that to you? If we all stopped and asked this question, there wouldn’t be as many suicides or people feeling worthless.

We all need to realize that self-esteem is so important for a person to have. When you have it you are happier, confident, and just free. The freedom of actually being yourself and not caring what others say or think is the best freedom I have personally ever experienced and I recommend it to anyone out there.

My point to this paper is to tell the girls and boys out there that feel these awful feelings: you are definitely not alone. I believe everyone, at one point in their life, has felt this way, but it doesn’t mean you need to stay that way. We need to learn how to love ourselves for who we are. The great thing about life is that we do get to choose who we want to be, how we want to act, how we want to dress, and what our opinions are. Stop letting people tell you who you are and how you should act. Start telling people who you really are. Now that’s being yourself.